Firefighters Find Alligator Behind Couch

SAO PAULO -- Firefighters say they have removed a 5-foot-long alligator who was hiding behind a couch after floodwaters washed it into a home in northern Brazil.

Capt. Luiz Claudio Farias of the Parauapebas city fire department says that when the floodwaters receded on Tuesday, a woman saw her 3-year-old son petting something behind the couch. It was an alligator.

He says "she snatched the boy away and called" firefighters.

Farias said Wednesday the alligator was apparently well fed. "If he was hungry he could have seriously hurt or even killed the boy."

The alligator was taken to an environmentally protected area near the city and released into a river.